Mac seemed to be a little faster than the Klink on the opposite side of the battlefield, and he ran up viciously. Skylar called from behind the hot bird with his command. "Double Kick! One for each of their gears!"
youtube.com/watch?v=_T91TAmept0 - Music of choice.
The slightest change in expression told that Anton appreciated being addressed by his name. Still, then Mac came out... "Of course," he said, biting it together. Then... "Gear Grind!" The pair of gears sped up their spinning as they swung to meet with the fiery chicken in the middle of the tunnel. Mac struck first, kicking each of the two gears from various angles and sending them spinning with Super Effective damage! However, Klink spun around and cut into Mac as well with two fierce, albeit Not-Very-Effective strikes of Steel-type! Mac did around 80% of Klink's health with those kicks, while Klink did around 40% back. Gear Grind is a surprisingly powerful move. But now, Mac was faster…
“Good job, Mac! Keep it up, buddy!” Skylar cheered on his pal before realising that it might be a little difficult to land another set of kicks. “Go for an Ember!” Mac nodded, sprinted up to the Kline, and let loose a puff of flaming breath from his beak...!
Mac jumped back from the spinning cutting gears, and unleashed an Ember! Klink was unable to dodge the fireball and was slammed back from the burning impact, the Super-Effective damage too much! Klink fainted. Anton sighed as he returned Klink to its Pokéball. "Regrettable," he said, and then spun his spear a bit. "but now I'll have the bothersome chicken out of the way." The spear stopped by his shoulder, and Clauncher jumped excitedly onto it. Anton then grasped his spear with both hands and swung it, Clauncher leaping off mid-swing for a decidedly dramatic landing, where she aimed her gun for Mac. "Clauncher!" she called.
i.imgur.com/fOgD4DQ.png Pokédex Entry #692 – Clauncher, the Water Gun Pokémon. Its massive claw is a water-pistol firing compressed water using controlled expulsions of internal gasses. The shots it fires can shatter rock at close distances, it uses this to shoot down flying prey. It is known to use this expulsion to travel fast, jetting water out behind it to accelerate. "Take aim...!" Anton called, pointing his spear forward at Mac, and Clauncher mimicked the motion with her gun...!
“Predictable choice. Water types being good against fire was the first thing they taught you in Trainer School.” The switch-in wasn’t good, but Skylar didn’t have much of a choice here for potential counter. The best thing he could do is either switch Mac out for Paradise or Royal early and let them take a hit, or try and get something off before Mac had to switch out. Skylar went with the latter.* “Mac, Sand Attack! Get ready to dodge!” Skylar cried to his cohort. Mac nodded and kicked up the ground, flinging what he could at the Clauncher.
"... ICE BEAM!" Anton cried out, at the same time as Skylar made his call. Anton then frowned. "Wait, why wouldn't you switch to-" Clauncher launched a fierce, icy beam of chilling energy straight at the fiery chicken! To nobody in particular's surprise, the shrimp is a master marksman and had no trouble sniping Mac despite the effort to get out of the way... but it sure didn't do a lot of damage! It kinda blew away the Sand Attack as it passed through, though. Anton grunted, looking annoyed.(edited)
“I had faith in my bud to take a hit, though now you’re faced with a dilemma, Anton.” Skylar taunted, letting it hang in the air. “You better hope that you come up with something fast, because I know just what you’re planning now! Mac! Double Kick! She’ll have a harder time aiming if you go from the sides!” Mac nodded, running up to the Clauncher and swinging his foot around in a roundhouse. That Clauncher better have good aim, or else this’ll hurt!(edited)
"Grr." Anton clearly did not appreciate the taunt, and very quickly decided to just be way more... "Bubble Beam!" ... direct. An amusing detail is that Bubblebeam is not a single powerful burst like other beam moves. It launches an array of bubbles like a bubble-machine-gun, which allowed Clauncher to aim her gun to try to intercept the charging, kicking Mac...! Both fighters rolled terribly, meaning Clauncher wasn't hitting but Mac had trouble getting close with the stream of bubbles he had to dodge!
“Keep going, buddy! Don’t let up!” Skylar called to his pal. He could get closer and closer before landing a hit, he just needed to close that distance.
"Shoot him down!" Anton called, which Clauncher interpreted as 'more bubbles'. Mac dodged around and came side-by-side with Clauncher... when Clauncher precisely managed to aim her gun and fire just where Mac was going, proving to have exceptional aim and firing a whole Bubble Beam into Mac! Super Effective damage...! But Mac didn't faint. Just, barely, didn't faint. And instead Mac slammed two of his feet into Clauncher and sent the little crustacean flying with moderate damage!
“HECK YEAH! Let’s go buddy! Good job!” Mac was definitely not feeling too well, and it was showing hard. Poor bud could hardly stand without a ton of difficulty, but he was smirking. “Just one more time, pal! Knock that lobster out cold! Go all in with another Double Kick!” Mac crowed in approval, charging in with reckless abandon and ready to give it one last Double Kick, no matter what it took.
Mac dashed in, before Clauncher had time to adjust her aim, and managed to kick downwards first, slamming down one beautiful kick! Slam! Critical Hit! ... And then another normal kick on top of that. Then Clauncher raised the gun from a prone position and fired a Bubble Beam. He's done well, but it hadn't fainted Clauncher, and this next beam was a bit too much for someone already on the edge. Mac fainted! "... Hmpf." A clearly unhappy Anton waved for Clauncher to make her way over to in front of him again, ready for the next one.
Skylar pulled out Mac’s Pokeball and called him back, looking down at the orb and smiling. “Good job, bud. Really awesome job. Take a good rest, now.” Skylar readied a new Pokeball and looked over at Anton. “I wonder, what exactly do you think I’m gonna pull out this time? Unfortunately, I think I’m gonna keep my Tropius in my reserve. Don’t need an Ice Beam ruining my day, after all.” The boy threw out Seabreeze, a smile washing over his face. “I wonder what you have for Seabreeze. I have to say, it better be enough to impress me.” Skylar mocked Anton, doing a shoddy imitation of the Virtue member’s voice before breaking and giggling a little. “Wing Attack, buddy! Finish the job!”
"..." Anton wasn't exactly looking happy. Aside from his frown, his face was currently blank, yet something about him was making his grunts back away from him now. Skylar finished his taunt, and Seabreeze was away... and Anton gave his command. "Dragon Pulse." A sound broke off from Clauncher's gun-claw, as the effects of purple power emanated from the gun. Mega Launcher powers up pulse moves! Seabreeze flew in, way faster than Clauncher would have been able to move. Yet, not so fast that Clauncher was unable to fire before he got there. Seabreeze made an effort to dodge the shot, something he's pretty good at, but Clauncher proved to be too good a marksman and fired a perfect shot which hit straight onto Seabreeze, blasting him back! He could probably have handled that at full health, but in addition to the damage from poison and Mega Drain before, it became too much! Seabreeze fainted! "... Being an elite at Team Virtue grants me privy to TMs and tutoring of my Pokémon. I couldn't care less about their self-righteous imbecility," Anton said, making numerous of his grunts gasp. "... but I'll spout it all day if it means they'll make me stronger. That shot..." Anton looked to his Pokémon's smoking gun with pride, "was more powerful than Hyper Beam, thanks to Clauncher's ability, and I can use it over and over again... I've personally tutored her to be as accurate as possible... With just a couple levels, I'll make the most powerful sniper in Isson." Anton crossed his arms again. "How's that?" he said, his tone dark. He clearly didn't appreciate being mocked.(edited)
“... well you certainly got their self-righteous imbecility down.” Skylar raised Seabreeze’s ball and pulled him back. That certainly wasn’t super good. Who on the team could take a Mega-Launcher Dragon... Pulse... hold on a tick. “JoJo, Confusion as quick as you can!” Skylar sent out his Ralts, the little fairy’s horn glowing white with psychic energy. He really hoped this would be enough to take the Clauncher down, or else things might start getting ugly.
"... Yeah, yeah, part-fairy, can't one-shot, Clauncher, return!" Anton held forward a Pokéball and returned his pride-and-joy to her Pokéball, and then sent forth a new Pokéball! Emerging in front of him, and taking JoJo's Confusion, came a grassy, happy-looking goat of some sort!
i.imgur.com/P7rTVih.pngPokédex Entry #672 – Skiddo, the Mount Pokémon. It is believed to be one of the first Pokémon to start living with humans in harmony. It is known to have a placid disposition, and only really battle if used by a trainer. If it has sunshine and water, it doesn’t need to eat, because it can generate the energy it needs to survive from the leaves on its back.
Skiddo took the Confusion, albeit didn't take particularly much damage! There was a moment there where it faced Ralts... and then it turned around! Behind him, Anton went down on his knees, and Skiddo happily skipped up to him. "Good job, Skiddo! You're so good at taking a hit! Who's the best little boy? You are! You're the best little boy! You'll get all the best-boy treats after this!" Anton transformed and petted the happy goat, Skiddo making happy noises as he got scratched here and there and praised by a confusingly nice-looking Anton. "Alright, now," Anton transformed right back into irritated Anton as he stood up and swung his spear to point forward at their opponents. "Return." And the happy Skiddo skipped forward with an unquestioningly happy cry.
“Double Team!” Skylar called out, watching as tons of Ralts started to fill in a circle around the Skiddo. Clearly the Clauncher was on some kind of ropes at this point if Anton needed to switch out of that. That bid very well for Skylar, indeed. “Just try and shake him up, JoJo! Run around in a circle with the clones!” And so JoJo started to float off the ground slightly, and the clones began to circle around the Skiddo in an effort to disorient the little goat so he wouldn’t hit a shot.
Skiddo ran forth and attempted to strike JoJo with its horns! It was a powerful swing of Return that clearly contained considerable love for his trainer! ... That said, it went straight through a duplicate! "Hmpf," Anton muttered, contemplating his next move.
“Confusion, JoJo! Keep circling!” As bold of a move as this was, Skylar wanted it to work out. His whole team would be done in from Clauncher if they got the chance, but if Skylar kept up this tempo with the clones, then... At once, all the clones had their horns glow with psychic power, and whichever had JoJo loosed the psychic attack out at the Skiddo!
"Jump out! Razor Leaf them all!" Anton commanded, and Skiddo jumped aside, out of the encirclement and spun around, sending out a storm of leaves! Confusion hit Skiddo, doing some damage! However, some of the leaves hit JoJo! Spread Razor Leaf meant it wasn't major damage, but... "That's the one!" It was enough to find the real among the duplicates! Skiddo locked on!
“Eep! Uh...” That wasn’t a great situation, but it seemed like it was at least a little bit of a better strategy then what Skylar had prepared. Unfortunately, Poison kept ticking, so the longevity of this would be a little worse to reckon with as it continued. “Another one!” As much as Skylar didn’t want to admit it, JoJo might have to go down. He had a backup, of course, but this was still a bit risky to work with. That Return would pack quite a punch...
"... Synthesis!" Anton commanded, and while Skiddo took another Confusion, he then healed up the value of two Confusions with one move, due to the lack of weather! "Good boy! Nobody takes a bit like you!" Anton said with a confident smirk, glaring at Skylar while Skiddo made happy noises and JoJo took more poison damage.
Alright, so if that didn’t work because he healed it off... maybe they could at least stall things off or set up for a potential defeat? Skylar’s mind was racing with plans, trying to figure out the best step forward. “JoJo, Growl!” The trainer had some kind of idea boiling in his head. If JoJo couldn’t secure a safe victory, then he could at least help tip the odds in the favor of another. “Rrrrrrrral!” JoJo growled, much to nobody’s surprise.(edited)
"Return!" Anton commanded, and Skiddo skipped forward through JoJo's Growl with reduced attack but still arrived to slam its head against JoJo and back to Skylar! JoJo fainted! "Good boy, Skiddo! You got him!" Anton praised his Skiddo. "Now watch it, something with wings is likely coming..."
Skylar brought back JoJo and clenched his next Pokeball. The weaker Returns were a good sign for some kind of aid, but everything from here rested on Paradise, Royal, and Jeebs. He was, honestly, just a little concerned. “Jeebs! Struggle Bug! Keep yourself high so you don’t risk getting hit by a Return!” Skylar tossed out Jeebs, the Vivillon immediately raring to go from the sky and raining down a Struggle Bug as best as he could manage...!
"Tsk, height," Anton muttered, knowing distance-attack Razor Leaf would be ineffective. "Jump off the wall! Return!" "Skiiii-!" Skiddo took a full speed charge at the wall, jumped up at it, and jumped from it towards Jeebs! It took a Super-Effective Struggle Bug doing this, taking considerable damage, but he kept going! Doing it like this gave it reduced accuracy, but Skiddo pulled it off and slammed into Jeebs mid-air before falling down! Jeebs took basically half his health! "GOOD BOY! You're the best boy, Skiddo! You're getting treats for that!" Anton called, sounding so weirdly happy. Skiddo made a happy noise. Then Jeebs probably Struggle Bugs again because this will hit first and faints Skiddo, immediately making Anton drop his happy front and returned Skiddo to his Pokéball. OhbtwJeebsgrewtolevel16earlierinthegruntbattle so Jeebs grew to Level 17! Jeebs learned Psybeam! "Well done. But, if you thought Clauncher was the only one I had left, then you're mistaken," Anton said, smirking. Then, he addressed... not Skylar. "You can come back, now." With that, remember the Rufflet that fainted near Skylar's feet? Something tiny crawled off its body. It crawled back to Anton before turning around in front of him.(edited)
Pokédex Entry #595 – Joltik, the Attaching Pokémon. As they cannot charge their own electricity, they attach themselves to electrical sockets in houses or to large-bodied Pokémon to absorb their static electricity, which it then uses for battle. It is the smallest known Pokémon in existence.
"Had you not accepted a fair Pokémon battle..." Anton mentioned... and then chuckled a bit. In any case, next turn!
“Yeah, but typically when I accept a fair battle I don’t have to fight 4 other trainers first.” Skylar groaned, looking at the Joltik that had just scurried out from practically nowhere. Grand, so it was a 3v4. That didn’t bode super well. “Alright, you caught me, maybe I won’t get out of here with a grand victory.” Skylar raised his hands to the side. “But hopefully by now that girl’s left the area and on her way out of the cave. That was my goal.” Skylar snapped a finger. “Protect, Jeebs. Scout out a plan, if you could.”
January 17, 2021
"Electroweb!" Anton commanded, and the tiny bug sent out an electric web that shot out towards Jeebs! It hit the barrier that Jeebs raised, harmlessly falling off!
“Struggle Bug, but be careful buddy!” Skylar was a little sweaty, worried about whether or not things were actually going to end with his victory or not, and that was a little intimidating in the long run to consider. Jeebs flew up in the air and let out a puff of dust, their Struggle Bug blasting off their wings and into the area.
Jeebs shot first, hitting Joltik with Struggle Bug and doing fair damage, and reducing Special Attack! In return, Jeebs got shot with the electrifying web, doing Super-effective damage... but thanks to the attack of Return and the special of Electroweb both being reduced, Jeebs barely held on! Unfortunately, his speed was reduced by Electroweb, meaning that as it is, Joltik's gonna shoot first next!
“Hold on for one more, Jeebs! Just one more Struggle Bug!” Skylar called to his buddy, and Jeebs looked back. It was going to be a risky play for Jeebs, but maybe he could just barely get out one more Struggle Bug before he went out. “Vivi!!” Once more the dust poofed off of his wings, and he went through with the Struggle Bug...!
... but unfortunately he was shot with another Electroweb and fell back with the electric shocks before the Struggle Bug came out. Jeebs fainted. "Hmpf," Anton stood with crossed arms, and tiny Joltik stood ready for the next opponent.
Skylar called back his butterfly pal, looking at the last two Pokeballs on his belt. Yeah, this was gonna be rough. “Quick Attack, Royal!” Skylar sent out his Emolga, and within a flash the Emolga was in there right up against the Joltik. After a hit, it was pretty obvious that the Emolga was ready to get back into the skies and out of the heat of the battle.
"I really hope that one doesn't have an ability that makes this ineffective, Electroweb!" Anton commanded. Royal flew quickly and impacted the tiny bug! It did... a bit of damage. Still, this close, Joltik now hit a straight Electroweb! It didn't do much damage, either, but Royal was already damaged from the tussle with Rufflet, it doesn't look good like this!
“Ok, Royal! Go for another!” This was... really all Skylar’s plan could be. Thundershock would do basically nothing to this Joltik and he was down to the wire here. There... might need to be an item used. For a moment, he considered giving the Heat Wave Potion from Earl to Paradise, but he decided that it wasn’t a great idea for the moment. If all else failed, that might be the course of action...
Royal Quick Attacked again! Joltik was decently low on health, but not enough. It shot another Electroweb, which caught onto Royal and did too much damage! Royal fainted! Anton was looking content with himself. Like, it hadn't gone as he wanted, but it seemed to still be shaping up.
“I have to ask, Anton. Why even work with Team Virtue outside of the resources?” Skylar asked, pulling back Royal and grabbing his last Pokeball. With a deep breath, he sent out Paradise and just needed to hope this battle somehow worked out. “Paradise, go for a Stomp!” Skylar called, seeing his Tropius materialize out of the Pokeball and fly over to the Joltik. Maybe... he could do it?
"... It's a job. I get paid. I get stronger. One day, when I feel I've helped them enough to make up for how much I've been helped by them, I'll leave them behind to take the Pokémon League by storm. I'd rather that parting be one which doesn't lead to them hounding me for my debt to them," Anton replied, no-nonesense like. Then, Paradise came out, and... "Good work, Joltik. That Emolga's Quick Attack was the last threat to Clauncher. You've performed your job admirably," Anton said, not even bothering to give a command as a pretty terrified little bug got crushed under Paradise's Stomp. Joltik fainted! Anton returned it to its Pokéball. "Now, then... final Pokémon against final Pokémon," Anton said, throwing out the last Pokéball, Clauncher emerging once again... a significant distance away from Paradise.
"Take aim..." a tense Anton commanded, and Clauncher glared at Paradise, not going to fire until she knows for sure she's going to hit. With Clauncher at so low health and Paradise so weak to ice, first to hit wins.
“Then why not leave now? Avoid their debts entirely. You’re a great trainer, you don’t need them to find your way.” Skylar spoke as he thought, needing to create a plan. Paradise couldn’t safely Razor Leaf here since Ice Beam would surely hit, but if she focused on dodging then any attack she’d do would likely miss... Magical Leaf. “... Paradise, delay your attack and dodge the Ice Beam! Then hit it with a Magical Leaf!” Skylar called. “It doesn’t need to be at its full power, just make sure you don’t get hit!” Paradise turned to look at her trainer, then she began her flight into the air of this cave. Leaves began to swirl around her, not nearly as much as a Razor Leaf, but definitely enough to hurt, but her eyes kept trained on that Clauncher. This wasn’t going to be easy, but Skylar had faith she could maybe, just barely, dodge an attack...!
Anton looked genuinely surprised for a second, frowning at Skylar. Then... he chuckled, developing into a laugh. Lips widening a bit and his chin dropping as he chuckled, before raising his eyes to look at Skylar again. "What is this? 'It is not too late, come join the good guys'? You'll find no black-or-white here. Just good old-fashioned grey opportunism. Until my debt is paid or Team Virtue goes off the deep end..." He pointed his spear forward. "Ice Beam!" Clauncher charged her attack, as Paradise took off in the opposite direction, winds swirling as the sizable dinosaur of a flying Pokémon took evasive actions, and at the other end the lobster with a sniper aimed for her. All she had to do was survive a single shot. Clauncher directed her gun, and Paradise evaded, as the gun prepared to fire...! It was a frankly beautiful shot. Expertly led, flawlessly predicted and absolutely on-point as the blue chilling beam surged through the cavern. The marksman Clauncher proved her capability as that icy blast flew directly into Paradise's attempt at dodging. It didn't just hit. Critical Hit! Paradise fainted! "... And so, it ends," Anton breathed out, full of pride as he turned to look at Skylar. "Now, let us return to the matter of-" Clauncher shot again, another large, icy beam, surprising Anton, who looked with alarm in that direction. There, flew a couple of glowing, multicoloured leaves that defied all rules of gravity as they homed in on their target. "Shoot them down!" Anton commanded, like Clauncher wasn't already trying to. Yet, the homing leaves dodged like magic, parting to let the Ice Beam surge in between them, as they came in as a group and cut by Clauncher! It wasn't at full power, but it didn't need to be! Clauncher was already heavily damaged from before! And with that damage... Clauncher fainted! "... Gah..." Anton staggered a bit, glaring forward at Skylar. And so, at the end of this battle, no Pokémon remained standing!
Everyone whited out! ... No, not really.(edited)
“... really... AWESOME! Great job, Paradise! Seriously!” Skylar ran over to his Tropius and pat her head, returning her to her Pokeball and nuzzling the ball. Sure, it might’ve been a little weird, but it worked out. “We’ll get you healed up right well in just as soon as we leave this mine.” He looked over at Anton. “Team Virtue is already off the deep end. I was on Route 3 and they thought I was a Team Amethyst Grunt hunting for something. You don’t need them to seek out your opportunities.” Skylar shrugged. “It’s a thought.”
